Wil McCarthy
Wil McCarthy is a science fiction novelist,
President of
The Programmable Matter Corporation, and the science columnist for
the
Sci Fi Channel (United
States) where his popular
Lab Notes column has been running since
1999.
Wil invented the
Wellstone, or
Programmable matter concept:
Programmable Matter&8482; smart material is any bulk substance whose
physical properties can be adjusted in real time through the application
of light, voltage, electric or magnetic fields, etc. Primitive forms may
allow only limited adjustment of one or two traits (e.g., the
“photodarkening” or “photochromic” materials found in light-sensitive
sunglasses), but there are theoretical forms which, using known
principles of electronics, should be capable of emulating a broad range
of naturally occurring materials, or of exhibiting unnatural properties
which cannot be produced by other means.
He authored Crash Test
Cities,
Ultimate Alchemy,
Bloom,
To Crush the Moon,
The Collapsium,
Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite
Weirdness of Programmable Atoms
(also available as a free download!),
The Wellstone
(also available as a
free audio book!),
Lost in Transmission,
Aggressor Six,
The Monarchs of Sol,
Murder in the Solid State,
The Fall of Sirius,
Flies from the Amber,
and
coedited
Once Upon a Galaxy.
Previously a flight controller for
Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems
and later an engineering manager for
Omnitech Robotics and CTO of
Galileo Shipyards (an aerospace research laboratory), Wil is
currently the president of
The Programmable Matter Corporation, in
Lakewood, CO.
His patents include
Fiber incorporating quantum dots as programmable dopants,
Layered composite film incorporating quantum dots as
programmable dopants, and
Layered composite film incorporating a quantum dot shift
register.
Wil earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at the
University of Colorado
at Boulder
in 1988 and also completed some graduate coursework in astrodynamics.
He is fluent in English and knows conversational German, Japanese, and
Esperanto.
He earned
PADI Rescue Diver certification (44 logged dives, 24:00 hours TBT)
and is
experienced in underwater assembly, search and recovery, navigation, etc.
Listen to Wil on IT
Conversations.
Read his interview in
Nanotechnology Now.
Read the interview
It Takes a Rocket Scientist: Amazon.com Interviews Wil
McCarthy.
Watch the
animation of the runaway nanotech replication event, or
“bloom”, from his book Bloom.